I just finished reading John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book so thought-provoking, and not because I necessarily agreed with it all as I assumed I would, because I’m not sure I especially do. But I do know I want to know more.

Of course, coming from an unschooler one would think I’m particularly anti-school. And although I do share the tendencies, I try not to share the opinion. I’ve seen enough unschooled kids choose schooling and know that for some it is the only escape they have. But what I do feel – and what has been confirmed in Gatto’s book – is that school is falling short and that just might be their purpose.

In the first chapter, “Everything You Know About School Is Wrong”, Gatto clearly spells out his unique brand of cynicism with excerpts and quotes from some of the founders of the public education model, this being only one example taken from a 1906 document from Rockefellar’s General Education Board called Occasional Letter Number One:

“We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is simple…We will organize children…and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.”

He goes on to talk about the dumbing down of curricula, the elimination of community oversight, and the influence of geneticists, such as this:

On April 11, 1933, the president of the Rockefellar Foundation, Max Mason, announced a comprehensive national program underway, with the help of the Foundation, to allow “the control of human behavior.” School figured heavily in its design. Max Muller, an Eastern European geneticist, inspired Rockefellar to invest heavily in control of human evolution. …In Muller’s mind, as to Galton and Darwin before him, planned breeding of human beings was the key to paradise….Muller won the Nobel Prize and reduced his scheme to a 1,500-word Geneticists Manifesto…State action should separate worthwhile breeding stock from the great mass of evolutionary dead end material…In simple language, on the most basic level of institutional management, smart kids had to be kept from stupid ones.

The negative contributions to the school model he cites are numerous. But I more enjoyed the stories that clearly dispel the myth that “schooling = education = success” and advocates that “unschooled” [his word, not mine!] individuals do not equate uneducated or unsuccessful, such as:

• Jonathan Goodwin: A 7th grade dropout who engineers technology which could gives cars 60 to 100 miles per gallon and push emissions near zero.
• Nick Shulman: High school dropout, turned poker “addict” turned poker champion and millionaire who decided in his 20′s to take up philosophy
• Ingvar Kamprad: Diagnosed as dyslexic in school, he started out by selling matches and fish from a bicycle and went on to found IKEA. Nuff said!
• Craig Venter and Frances Collins: The former a “horrible student” and “beach bum”; the latter a homeschooler who “studied whatever he wanted”; jointly mapped the human genome.

He speaks what he sees as the causes of a declining creativity, childhood obesity and diabetes, his belief of the artificial extension of childhood and his opinions of passivity in children and adults. This short story sticks out to me most:

When asked to describe the most important lesson of [Andrew Hsu's] life…he said it was the story told to him by his father about the method of training fleas…The story his father told goes like this: If you put fleas in a shallow container they jump out. But if you put a lid on the container for just a short time, they hit the lid trying to escape and learn quickly not to jump so high. They give up their quest for freedom. After the lid is removed, the fleas remain imprisoned by their own self-policing. So it is with life. Most of us let our own fears or the impositions of others imprison us in a world of low expectations.

Reading that, my whole life as a schoolteacher flashed before my eyes. I had been hired to put the lid on the petri dish which the kids would butt their heads trying to follow their own path until one day, exhausted, they would quit trying. At that point they would be fit subjects to train.

My Only Caveat

One thing that bothered me was a lack of references to his sources. He fully intrigued me but without few bread crumb trails to follow myself! Also, he seemed to imply that from school admin up to state Senators were in on one giant scheme. I personally don’t think too many politicians, especially those schooled themselves, are really that intelligent to mastermind such a plot to rob us of our children. I do, however, feel that they may have been sold the theory of schooling while they themselves were children and are also obviously serving their own best interests (or the interests of their lobbyists).

On a more personal level I can’t get behind what I perceive as Gatto’s underlying message of “tough love” for children. Instead of coming from a place of support, following the cues of our children and allowing them the freedom to learn and explore, he seemed to ooze a bit of the archaic standard that kids past the age of toddlerhood are really just small adults and should be treated as such. I fully support the 6 year old who wants emulate his dad, but I don’t support the idea that we shouldn’t still nurture (not to be confused with overprotect) their innocence.

Another complaint is in regards to his opinion of television (says the woman without one). He confesses to be on the board of advisers for the organization, TV-Free America and lists his complaints with what he views as addictive. While in many cases, I can see his point, I feel that working off of studies that include children who do NOT have control of their education or their time but are instead (in his words) trained to be sedentary, does not give an accurate picture of the positive (or null) effects of television on those given the freedom to freely choose it.

And a bit of irony for me, was his opinion that computers and the internet carry the same dangers as television…while laced throughout this former English teacher’s book, instead of a bibliography, he suggests Googling the subject matter.

Gatto’s Solution

Gatto’s proposed first step in overthrowing a broken system outlined in the afterword of the book is by far the most intriguing part for me. I won’t spoil it for you but I will say I’m curious if it could work. It would call on millions, not only parents but teens, in a grassroots effort rarely seen in our era of apathy. It’s peaceful, calm and would be a bit amusing to witness the befuddlement that would ensue. It would be only one step in unhinging the great machine that is standardization and compulsory schooling; one tiny step toward a better model of education. But would it work?

Whether you have kids or simply once was a kid, whether you’re an advocate of homeschooling, unschooling or private or public school and especially if you are a teacher or plan to be a teacher, I’d suggest reading this book. You may not agree with all of it but it will certainly give you something to chew on.